Wand-waving Bartender
by VereorFaux
Summary: Qrow has a new best friend. It's the black-haired, green-eyed, glasses-wearing bartender who recently opened up a shop in Vale, and he is enabling his alcoholism like a good friend would do. Whatever was in that Whisky was the stuff of gods. Harry Potter, as mysterious as he was, is a fun person to hang around with.
1. Qrow walks into a bar

**Chapter 1: Qrow walks into a bar (when doesn't he?)**

* * *

Usually when there's a disturbance, the Vale Police Department is sent to take care of it. The friends and helpers of the common citizens of Vale were competent, there was no doubt about that.

But when the cause of the disturbance is described as a sound comparable to the screams of a hundred Grimm, people get wary. It might have been a dozen Grimm, really, but with 8 calls about the same events, the number obviously adds up.

In that case, police force isn't too proud to give Beacon a call and ask Ozpin for a teacher or two.

Unfortunately for Qrow, he was present when Ozpin received the call, and the only available teacher during this time of the day was an old friend of his.

"I can't believe you still show up drunk to every meeting," she muttered.

Her nagging was still the same after all these years.

"And I can't believe you can sit through them sober," Qrow said. Glynda Goodwitch wasn't always this stuck up, but she was definitely a model student back in the day. Being a teacher at beacon must have murdered her sense of fun.

"Some people know what responsibility is," Glynda said. Her glare aimed at the back of his head was dismissed with a swig of Qrow's trusty flask. "Can you even fight like this?"

"How could you even fight with-"

"Shut up."

Qrow did, a playful grin on his face. The sun was sinking over the buildings, giving the sky a red tint.

Their journey took them into a rather less reputable neighborhood, the commotion growing louder with every step, and eventually they came to see the source of the disturbance. A man in a white shirt with long sleeves with a red and golden vest over it stood in front of a shop, a pile of men in front of him. In his hand was a stick.

Qrow didn't really have much to say besides pointing at him with a thumb, looking over to Glynda, and making a joke out of it. "Look, it's one of your people."

The man turned around when Glynda turned pink, blinking at them with a confused look on his face. The black haired man who looked about thirty years old wore glasses that framed his clear green eyes.

"Look, he even wears glasses."

Unfortunately for Glynda, Qrow was the kind of person who knew how to get under her skin. While she would always keep a level head around people like Ozpin, a stranger like the man in front of them didn't quite rank that high up.

So nobody could really blame her for lifting her wand and sending a pebble at Qrow's head. When he lazily turned his head to dodge it, the stone instead hit one of the men on the ground.

"Excuse me," the man in red said. "Could it be that you're the police? I'm afraid I've been waiting for a while after someone ran off to call them."

"Something like that," Qrow said. "We get called when the fighting sounds like Grimm. Not sure how someone could've made that mistake."

The glasses wearing man smiled warmly. "I can't imagine how, either."

Then his eyes widened as if recalling something. And without further ado, he walked into the shop, his stick in hand and waving it around. A few seconds later, the body of another man was dragged out, bigger than the others on the ground.

"I'm afraid this is the leader of the bunch, they decided to visit my shop, telling me to set up elsewhere."

"Your shop?" Qrow asked.

The man pointed at the sign above the door. "My bar. Let me welcome you, my first customers! I'm Harry Potter, I'll be your bartender today."

Glynda blinked, while Qrow stared at the man until Harry began giggling like a giddy child.

"I'm sorry, I always wanted to say that, really has a ring to it, doesn't it?"

"You sound bored," Qrow said. Harry shrugged.

"Want to come in? First drink's on the house."

"Don't even think about it," Glynda growled.

Qrow stepped through the door.

"When have I ever _thought_ about going into a bar? Just call the VPD, they can take care of some crooks."

"Qrow!"

* * *

The ambiance was weirdly colorful for a bar. Everything from red to green and blue hung from the walls, emblems of various animals on them. Qrow didn't mind, it smelled like booze, so it couldn't be a bad bar.

Sitting down at the counter, Qrow shut down the outside world, and the rather loud voice of Glynda as she was calling the VPD, concentrating on the drink that Harry put down in front of him. It had the smell of a whisky, but the smell was weird.

"My own creation," Harry said, smiling. Qrow raised an eyebrow - people making their own alcohol wasn't all that common anymore, huge factories produced these things en masse, cheaply getting half the world drunk. One of the best industries. If he hadn't become a huntsman, Qrow was sure that he'd have worked at some brewery. "Careful, though, it might be a bit strong for a newbie."

"Lemme be the judge of that," Qrow said, holding back a snort. Some guy who looked barely older than him trying to teach _him_ , Qrow Branwen, about drinking? That'll be the day. Taking the glass and downing the whisky in one fell swoop, Qrow gave Harry a grin as he brought it back down. It was good, great even- then why was the barkeeper grinning so knowingly?

It began slowly. Or maybe it was fast, but for Qrow it felt like an eternity. A burning feeling came up in his chest and smoke escaped his mouth. For the first time in years, Qrow was left coughing after a drink, hitting his chest with a fist. When the burning feeling subsided, all Qrow felt was happiness.

"Care for another?" Harry asked.

"Give me a bottle," Qrow said, slamming the money on the counter.

"Just for my first customer, I'll give you one for free."

Harry had the feeling he'd make the money back in no time.

Qrow greedily pocketed the bottles of 'Potter's Magical Firewhiskey'. Harry didn't have much to do right now, and Qrow wasn't very talkative. The smoke that escaped Qrow's nose and ears after each sip was the only change that took place in the bar until someone all but kicked the door in.

Well it was less of a kick, and more of a wand movement. Glynda strode into the bar with her wand leveled at Qrow. "We're not here to drink, Qrow!"

"I know you're not," Qrow said, raising his glass towards Glynda. "But if you tried this, I'm sure you'd keep me some company."

Or it'd shut her up. Someone who could hold his liquor like Qrow took a minute to regain some sense of speech. Someone like Glynda would probably be coughing for twenty minutes at least.

"The police are here and want to take our statements, yours too-"

She looked at Harry, who gave a glance towards her weapon of choice out of the corner of his eyes. "Miss, could I ask you not to wave a weapon around in my shop? I've no issue with you being armed, but it does set a rather annoying precedent."

Glynda closed her mouth slowly at his words, blinking for a moment before complying. She knew Qrow wasn't the kind of person that could be convinced with words, and the meeting with Ozpin wasn't anywhere near done when they had been ordered to take care of this mess.

"Let's try again," Harry said, clapping his hands together. "I'm Harry Potter, owner of this establishment. May I ask for your names?"

"Qrow Branwen," Qrow introduced himself. Not waiting for Glynda to remember her actual reason for standing in the bar she refused to step into earlier, Qrow pointed at her. "And that's Glynda Goodwitch."

"As my second customer in this bar, Glynda Goodwitch, would you care for a free drink?"

Harry was rather liberal in handing out his booze. It'd probably make him a lot of friends in the future, Qrow thought. Staring into his glass, the fiery whisky staring back at him, Qrow decided he had at least one now. There's nothing men can bond over better than alcohol.

"I have to refuse," Glynda said. "We're supposed to be in a meeting, and the police already came to pick the men up, so we can go now."

"That's too bad," Harry said. "Please do come visit me when you have time, it'd be sad to miss out on having such a pretty woman visit me once in a while."

Glynda's eyebrow twitched at the blatant flirting, and Qrow coughed slightly, though she couldn't tell if it was the alcohol or a choked laugh. Then the door of the bar was actually kicked in. With a leg.

"He has my gun!" Qrow heard someone shout. Turning around, they all saw one of the men that was on the ground earlier holding a VPD weapon, aimed at Glynda's back. Considering her Aura, it was unlikely to do any damage, and neither Qrow or Glynda were particularily worried. Harry, however, reacted swiftly, raising his own stick - a wand like Glynda's if Qrow could see correctly through his ever-drunken haze - and sending the man against the wall, the gun twisting and turning before falling apart.

"No weapons in my bar."

The words were clear, and the man was screaming in fright when a swing of Harry's wand sent him flying through the door and into one of the police cars. The pieces of the weapon gathered outside and turned back into a gun again.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Qrow asked. He had seen Harry drag the other man out using the wand earlier, but something like that took way more effort than just having your Aura unlocked. It'd need the right kind of Semblance.

"I had to pick up some tricks when I was younger," Harry answered. "You should see what I can do with a broomstick."

Qrow snorted, black smoke rising from his nose. Glynda stared at Harry's wand and actually felt her cheeks warm up.

* * *

Harry sighed as he locked the door to his bar, using his wand to add some spells that'd keep everything secure. That wasn't quite how he imagined his business' opening day, but it wasn't too bad either.

At the very least he had his first customer now! The official opening would be tomorrow, so he still had all the time in the world to make some noise and announce the best bar that Vale has to offer.

Even if the residents didn't even know yet.

Bartender wasn't exactly on the top of his list of things he planned to do with his life. He wanted to be a teacher, but there were problems with the world, and even though he knew that he shouldn't care too much, it was hard to just ignore everything. When he first arrived here, his first thought was to be a teacher of some kind, the people here had something akin to magic, but in the end, it was only superficial. Inhuman abilities that manifested differently for each person with a common source called 'Aura'.

And then he learned about the wars. And the Faunus. And the White Fang. The Grimm. The kind of schools. Remnant, as Harry learned it was called, was a dangerous place. Probably more dangerous than England was during the height of Voldemort's reign.

He couldn't really be a teacher for academies that trained child soldiers. Kind of. They started young, though they only finished by the time they were adults, it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

So Harry chose the most neutral position he could. Everyone was equal in front of booze.

And of course, the image of standing behind a counter and being the cryptical and powerful bartender that everyone knows but nobody knows anything about was pretty cool.


	2. Ozpin walks into a bar

**Chapter 2: A wizard walks into a bar (and orders coffee?)**

* * *

Ozpin had a long life. While it wasn't very public information, people who have been around longer than others, such as councilmen and the parents of the children that would attend his academy in the future, knew.

Ozpin also had a great many years in front of him, if he had any say in it. Despite his white hair, he still had the energy of a young adult, and he would never let anyone claim otherwise.

So when Ozpin visited the bar that Qrow had all but gushed about, he didn't exactly expect to feel the weight of his age bear down on his shoulders. The man in front of him, Harry Potter, if he recalled correctly, had the eyes of a vulture. A very, very old vulture.

Eyes are the windows to the soul, the old poets wrote. Aura is the manifestation of the soul, modern poets countered. Weirdly enough, to Ozpin's old eyes, the appearance of two souls consumed the presence of Harry Potter. Like a blanket, the darker soul sat on the top of Harry, as if protecting him - guarding him against something. It left only the slightest sliver of the usual transparent white visible.

"Welcome!" Harry said loudly. There were others around, sitting and drinking in silence on the various tables that were all around the bar. Ozpin sat down at the counter. A dark-brown drink was placed in front of him.

"I haven't even ordered anything," Ozpin mentioned, smiling at Harry. The green-eyed man simply winked.

"It's my new schtick, I see someone new walk in, and give them the drink they want without them saying anything."

The fact that Harry sounded so proud about it made Ozpin's smile widen.

"I'm not much of a drinker, I admit-"

"Ah, darn it," Harry sighed. "Foiled again - alright, let's see."

He took out the wand, and Ozpin saw the darker soul move with it - a swish of it later and ice was sitting inside the glass.

"There, that'll dilute the alcohol. Did I at least get the coffee-booze mix right?"

Harry's hope-filled eyes made it hard to resist for Ozpin to tell him 'no', but the headmaster still nodded his head after taking a sip. Truly, Ozpin was a paragon of virtue.

"How'd you know I'd like coffee with it, though?"

"I'd just give you normal coffee, but what kind of bar doesn't serve booze first thing in the evening?" Harry asked, shaking his head. "As for your question, well, there's nothing the rumors can agree on than that the headmaster of Beacon loves his coffee."

Ozpin nodded. The fact that Harry knew who he was shouldn't surprise him, of course. The drink was pleasant.

"I just opened the place three days ago, though, I'm glad that someone this important already found out about little old me."

"Qrow wouldn't stop talking about it," Ozpin admitted. Harry smiled widely. "Though Glynda has also been strangely talkative."

"She talks about me? But doesn't visit?" Harry asked. "Oh woe, perhaps I offended her when I first met her. What does a bloke need to do to be attractive to the fairer sex?"

Ozpin had the feeling that Harry was a very excitable person.

"Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned her age. That's the one trick I always get right, though."

A very, very excitable person.

"Not mentioning a lady's age is common sense, I'm afraid, Mr. Potter," Ozpin said. "You look much younger than you actually are. Maybe fifty? A bit older?"

Harry blinked at Ozpin before his grin turned a wee bit feral.

"Far off, I'm afraid," Harry said, one eye closed. Giving Ozpin a once over, Harry turned around and grabbed a bottle off a shelf behind him, all but slamming it in front of Ozpin. The fact that his finger went over the year that was engraved on the bottle wasn't very subtle, and when it finished tracing the numbers, a new set of numbers stared back at Ozpin.

"Can I hire you?" Ozpin asked. The headmaster sounded as eager as Harry did earlier when he brought up Glynda.

"I'm afraid I can't run my bar if I worked for you," Harry said. He took the bottle again, tracing the numbers again and returning them to their actual year. "That said, my door is always open, and I won't mind doing you a favor or two if you repay them."

"Favors?" Ozpin asked.

"I've got some headaches from people trying to make me choose one side or the other," Harry said. Ozpin wanted to ask what sides he meant, but considering the fact that everything Harry said opened up more questions to him, he imagined that he'd be sitting here until next year trying to get all the answers. "So I decided, why not be the guy in the middle on my terms? I do favors, people repay favors."

"Even criminals?"

"Especially criminals. No, not especially, but like, hmm." Harry danced around behind the counter, grabbing a bottle of some brand called 'Firewhisky' that Ozpin heard Qrow talk about, before turning back to the headmaster. "If a walking, talking Grimm came in here and asked for a favor, I'd probably consider what they have to say."

"That doesn't sound like a policy that's going to make you a lot of friends," Ozpin said. Or it'd make him a lot of friends, depending on how he managed those favors. The headmaster of Beacon could at least respect the stance. If it was anyone besides the man with two souls saying this, he'd not consider it sustainable.

Harry threw the bottle of Firewhisky as hard as he could towards the door, which opened up with a wide swing and a grinning Qrow.

"Harry-" the loud voice was interrupted as Qrow reflexively grabbed the bottle out of the air. Truly, the best of friends. "I got a friend to get drunk with tonight!"

"Well, I assume it's not your boss who's already sitting here drinking an atrocity of coffee and alcohol," Harry said. Qrow slowly turned his head towards the headmaster, who was watching him with an intense stare.

"O-oh, Ozpin, this-"

"Is the emergency you were talking about to get out of the meeting early?" Ozpin tried. He didn't care that much about stuff like this, lying to get out of a meeting was something he did often when he was younger - the pleasure of catching people doing it was something else entirely.

"Yes, absolutely, look!" Qrow said, dragging a man with blond hair into the bar. Most patrons barely gave him a look before going back to their conversations. The man looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. "I managed to drag him here for once."

This did actually please Ozpin somewhat.

Taiyang hasn't been the same since the death of his second wife, and while he was teaching huntsmen-to-be in Signal, he hadn't done anything besides that if he wasn't spending time with his daughters.

"Quiet down, only I get to be loud here," Harry chided Qrow. Qrow shrugged. The amount of emotion and energy displayed by Qrow in Harry's bar was something else entirely. It almost looked like Qrow was having fun.

"This is the only place I can have fun at," Qrow said. Ozpin sighed, leaning over his drink and looking at the shelves behind Harry. Most of the ice in his drink had already molten.

"You need more hobbies," Harry said.

"Firewhisky is my hobby."

"Alcoholic."

"As I live and breathe."

Taiyang looked between Qrow and Harry before shaking his head, sitting down next to the headmaster. "Long time no see, sir."

"It's been a while, yes," Ozpin said. "Please, just call me Ozpin."

Harry put a bright yellow colored drink in front of Taiyang. It smelled of a percentage of alcohol that could probably combust at any second at room temperature. Qrow shoved it away, grabbed a glass from behind Harry's counter and filled it with Firewhisky, putting that in front of Taiyang instead.

"Don't ruin my trick!" Harry said loudly.

"You'll never get it right anyway," Qrow mocked. Harry glared at him before he noticed all the nods of approval towards Qrow by the rest of the patrons.

It was his third day, and his customers already had a bad image of him. If Harry was a lesser man, he'd probably be crying by now. The fact that he was grabbing a bunch of tissues and holding them under his eyes meant nothing.

"I don't want to drink, Qrow," Taiyang said. "I'm just… you said you wanted to discuss something."

"You made a child with someone like my sister, don't pussy out of a free drink, Tai," Qrow said, giving Taiyang a half-grin, and receiving a blank stare in return. "It's going to put some spirit into you. Try it, for old time's sake?"

Taiyang wouldn't exactly call himself a pushover. If forced to, Ozpin would. So when the blond man grabbed the whisky and downed it all at once, Ozpin simply shook his head.

Qrow was shaking in excitement. Actually shaking. Ozpin hadn't seen him like this since Raven was about to give birth and he 'actually saw her struggle with something for once'.

The siblings didn't have the best of relationships.

It took two seconds for smoke to escape Taiyang's ears and nose. Five seconds for the smoke to leave the man's mouth.

Ten seconds later and Taiyang was spitting fire. Actual fire.

The crowd inside the bar got rowdy, slamming their glasses on the table and celebrating the fire spitting with cheers.

Qrow slammed his hand over Taiyang's head to stop his hair from burning off, and Taiyang punched his brother-in-law and teammate in the face.

Even a bleeding nose didn't stop Qrow's amused grin.

"Is it always like that?" Ozpin asked.

"Well, I don't usually recommend drinking the whole glass at once," Harry answered him. Taking another look at Taiyang, who was on the ground next to Qrow, Ozpin tapped his finger on the counter.

"One glass for Firewhisky."

* * *

Harry stared at the man in front of him with a frown.

It's been over a month, and there's kind of a reputation about his bar. The fact that this reputation extended far over the borders of Vale made him happy.

The young man in front of him was barely an adult. Not the kind of person he would ever serve booze to, but if someone came in and asked him for a favor…

"So you want me to fund you?" Harry asked. "That's kind of a direct thing. I don't think I can do it if I don't know your cause."

"I told you," the young man said. "We're the White Fang! Who doesn't know what we're fighting for?"

"You could be the queen of England for all I care, that doesn't tell me what you stand for," Harry said. The White Fang member looked confused at Harry's words before shaking his head.

"We'll fight the oppression of the humans and bring true equality to Remnant," he said. "And I'll lead them all to that ideal."

"To be honest, you sound hot-headed," Harry said. "Impulsive. If I gave you money, I imagine you'd buy weapons. Weapons you'd use to hurt people. I'm not the kind of person who'd actively fund something like that, because frankly, I have no interest in anyone's rights but the ones of the people that pay for their drinks here."

It sounded insulting. Of course it did. It was supposed to.

"I'm not the first one you approached," Harry concluded. No way in hell someone from over the borders of Vale would make the long way here just to ask him for help if they could get it more local. "And I'll not be the last."

Even though Harry could see that the red-haired young man was about to see red and blow up, he didn't stop.

"And just like those before me, the ones after me will tell you to fuck off," Harry concluded. Just a little bit more. "And you're whole movement will fail in its infancy."

Instead of blowing up, the young man's shoulders sagged. Harry smiled. At least something.

"I understand," he said. Harry tilted his head to the side and stared. "Thank you for meeting me. I'll leave soon."

"Let's not be hasty," Harry said, smiling. "Before and after me, I said, not me. I'm not going to give you funds or weapons or whatever. I know some people who know some people, they might be able to get you what you need for helping them out. Basic Grimm extermination for a bit of coin, bandits here and there."

"Why?" the young man asked. "You didn't sound interested in helping us earlier."

"I'm not here to help you, I'm here to help you help yourself," Harry said. The words sounded as irritating to his ears as they sounded speaking them. He almost bit his tongue. "So, in return, when I need something, I'll call you up and you help me out in a pinch, sounds alright?"

"Yes!" the young man said, holding his hand out quickly. Harry winked at him.

"So, Mr. Ambition of Equality. You know me well enough by now, I think, but I don't think anything about you. What's your name?"

"Adam Taurus, sir," the young man introduced himself as Harry grabbed his hand.

"No sir, please, that makes me feel old."


	3. Summer wind blows through a bar

**Chapter 3: A ghost floats into a bar**

* * *

It had become a routine for him. People came in, asked for a favour, left. Sometimes, people's favours were easy, sometimes they were more complicated, and every time he'd simply ask for a favour in return, paid in the future.

He wasn't sure how he was going to get the favour returned by a ghost, but he always had a soft spot for beautiful women. The woman in front of him floated above him with a soft smile on her face. Giving her a once over, he could see the scars of battle on the pale clothes. If these were visible on her afterimage, then she must've died in anguish.

"I'd offer you a drink, but I don't think you'll be able to hold the glass."

She smiled. It was a wide smile, one that split her face and made her beam. He offered her a seat, and she floated into it.

"You need something," he said. It wasn't a question. Nobody ever came here without needing something, whether it was a drink or a favour. She nodded. "You can't just tell me?"

She moved her hands to her throat, moving away a piece of cloth. It was carved out in a way that even the good old Headless Nick wouldn't have been able to suffer. Usually ghosts would ignore the laws of physics, but maybe this world's ghosts were different.

The fact that she was the first one he met made that hypothesis quite reasonable.

"Soooo, is it easy to figure out?"

She shrugged. He shrugged back.

"You're not very helpful," he said. She smiled again. "Not many things a ghost could want. Something you left behind and need to pass on?"

She nodded, then shook her head.

"The former, not the latter? Alright, a person?"

She nodded. He smiled.

"Need me to pass on your last words? Give them some ancient artifact that used to be in your possession?"

She mouthed a word. Despite her silent voice, she could immediately tell what she wanted. It was the shape of a mouth he had seen a lot. People who have said the same word to him a million times before.

"You need me to protect them?" he asked, tilting his head at her. "That's a big favour. Protect who? Protect them from what? For how long?"

She pointed at the wall. The Gryffindor colors. Red and gold.

"I'm guessing I'd recognize them? I imagine they'd look like you, huh?"

Of course, a child. She nodded animatedly, floating towards the colors. She pointed at the red, and then at herself. "Alright, red, looks like you, sounds easy enough. Leaves the from what and how long, and how do you expect to pay me back?"

She huffed silently, putting her hands on her hips.

"Alright, alright, I get it," he said. "Let me keep guessing, alright? You'd probably not expect me to move near them, so they're coming here. Huntsman in training?"

She nodded.

"Ozpin's job, then. If there's something you know that he doesn't, that'd mean danger for the whole city. Should I tell him?"

She looked sad.

"Something you can't tell me or he won't believe me. Or maybe something even he can't stop?"

She winced at the last question. He smiled, giving her a thumbs up. "Alright, I'll try to contact him anyway. You got an idea how long I got?"

She shrugged, but gave him an awkward bow that could've meant 'thanks'.

"You're not going to pass, huh? Alright then, go back to your children. Ozpin is going to get warned, I'll protect them if I can. I make no promises, especially not with vaguely cute ghost women, gods know I've had to deal with too many of those back in the day."

Her shoulders shook as if she was giggling, slowly moving towards the entrance. He waved her goodbye. It took a while thinking about the whole mess before he realized they skipped over the whole 'repaying' thing.

Ah, maybe if he dies, then. Lots of ghosts who owe him something.

* * *

He wasn't sure why, but after the ghost came, Qrow hasn't shown his face in the bar for a while, which made it hard to contact Ozpin as promised. Fortunately, it wasn't a strange coincidence.

Qrow actually had a job besides drinking, and his took him on a long trip he couldn't return from for weeks. When he stumbled into the bar with an empty bottle, he did so with a noticeable limp and an annoyed look on his face.

"I'm out, Harry," he said, sitting down in his usual seat. "And it was the worst time of my life."

Harry put a bottle on the table, giving him a large smile. "Welcome back, my favorite customer."

"Aw, shucks," Qrow said, opening the bottle and pouring himself a glass. "I bet you say that to everyone."

His flat tone made it clear that he wasn't in a good mood, and even booze wasn't going to help with that. "You alright, buddy?"

"No," he said. "It's a lot of annoying people being very attached to the idea that you need to have talks for days before reaching an agreement. Back in my day we just agreed with whoever beat the others up."

"That'd give you the quickest solution, but not necessarily the best one," Harry said. Qrow shrugged, downing the glass in one swoop.

"You're starting to sound like Ozpin."

"Ho ho ho, I do like my coffee darker nowadays, perhaps he's rubbing off on me," Harry said, smiling. "Though there's something I gotta talk to you about. I need to speak to Ozpin, asap. Had some trouble reaching out to him at the academy."

That made Qrow look away from the bottle for just a moment. "Sounds serious, you alright?"

"I'm doing fine, I just had a weird guest recently, and she's asked me for a favour."

"Dangerous enough to involve the old man?" Qrow asked. Harry shrugged.

"She seemed to think even he won't be able to stop it, asked me to protect her kids if something happens."

"That's… who was she? Maybe we can track her down-"

"I'm afraid not," Harry said. "Didn't give me a name or anything, I'm just supposed to deliver the message and take care of some kids starting at the academy, I'm guessing this year."

"Black hair?" Qrow asked. Harry blinked. "Perpetually frowning? Kind of looks like me but with tits?"

"No?" Harry said. "Wore a hood, so I couldn't see a lot. Was very happy, though, smiling a lot. I don't think it matters who it was, though-"

"Not my sister then," Qrow muttered. "Wouldn't ask anyone to protect her daughter anyway. My nieces are going to start at Beacon this year, thought it might've been her."

"Your sister? The one who hooked up with Taiyang?" he asked. "He had blond hair, right? Gold?"

Qrow nodded. Of course. He had heard the whispers, some info here and there when Qrow was beyond drunk. That woman must've been Taiyang's second wife…

"Alright, I definitely need to talk to Ozpin and you, can you get him over or can I come by when I close up?"

"Well, sure, ain't nobody gonna tell you to fuck off, half the city knows you. Want Ozpin's personal number?"

"Ah, I'm not too big on phones and the like, it's fine. I'm closing in an hour anyway."

Qrow nodded, pouring himself another glass.

* * *

"Let me just say, I don't really care whether you believe me or not," Harry said, sitting in a chair in front of Ozpin's desk. Qrow stood behind the headmaster, leaning against the window. "But I got visited by a ghost, at least I'm reasonably sure it was one."

"A… ghost?" Ozpin asked. "Remnant of a living spirit? Trapped in limbo and unable to pass on?"

"Something like that, some ghosts are pretty happy not moving on, all things considered-"

"The woman you spoke with?" Qrow asked. "A ghost?"

Harry nodded. Qrow narrowed his eyes, the gears in his head turning. Grinding his teeth, he gave Harry a level stare.

"You better not be lying about this-"

"I know they exist," Ozpin said. "I can see outlines of them, facsimiles of people. You claim you can see them well enough for them to approach you?"

"She looked young. Her clothes were ripped apart, her throat carved out, but she smiled like an angel," Harry said. "And when I asked who she wanted me to protect from an oncoming storm, something she believed you can't stop, she pointed at the red and gold colors on the wall."

Qrow slapped his hand on Ozpin's table, making both of the men look up at him. "Harry-"

"I said, I don't care if you believe me or not, she asked me for a favour and I'm going to do what I can to let her pass on. That was Taiyang's wife, right?"

"Summer Rose," Ozpin said softly. Qrow's throat made a howling sound. It sounded painful. "I knew you weren't ordinary, but this is beyond my expectations. You're-"

"I'm a bartender," he said. "Got a wand and know a bit about ghosts, but besides that, I'm nothing more."

"About as much as Ozpin's just a headmaster-"

"Qrow, it's fine," Ozpin said, raising his hand. "You'll do it, then? Protect them?"

"If the city's in danger, I'd protect anyone," Harry answered. "It's kind of my home, you know?"

Ozpin smiled. "Of course."

"You owe me so many bottles for not just telling me," Qrow said. Harry smiled.

"Would you have believed me if Ozpin hadn't?"

"Probably not, but I can't deal with this shit sober. Hit me up."

Ozpin breathed out through the nose. Of course there was always a danger that the city would come under attack, it wasn't something he wasn't expecting, but for someone to announce danger from beyond the grave?

He'd have to ensure more alliances. Perhaps increase security.

"Harry, could I ask for a favor?"

"Oh?" Harry said, leaning over the desk. "What do you need?"

"In due time, I'll need your help with something. It might be dangerous, but I believe that power of yours might be the key to saving this city."

"If you need me, I'll help," he said. "If you repay it in kind, of course."

Ozpin nodded. "I'd not have it any other way."


End file.
